Safety pocket key ring



19517 T. J. KEATING ETA].

SAFETY POCKET KEY RING Filed Aug. 15, 1952 M7120776 7-- 49 JTA Q ZLLZ United States Patent SAFETY POCKET KEY RING Thomas J. Keafing, Somerville, and Edmund J. Massello,

Medford, Mass.

Application August 15, 1952, Serial No. 304,504

1 Claim. (Cl. 24- -73) This invention relates to key holding devices, and more particularly to a pocket key ring which is especially suited to being attached to a trouser pocket to hold keys in suspended relationship therewithin.

it is an object of the invention to provide an improved key ring of the type indicated and to devise a structure which can be easily and cheaply manufactured and which is extremely simple to use. Another important object is to provide a key ring which may be quickly and conveniently attached to the lower edge of a trouser pocket aperture so that keys may be held in a suspended position within the pocket, and when in this suspended position the key ring may be maintained in trapped relationship with an internal shouldered edge of the pocket, whereby the key ring is prevented from being accidentally lost or from being withdrawn from the pocket without first being moved into a releasing position.

These and other objects and novel features will be more fully understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is a fragmentary elevational view illustrating a portion of a trouser pocket construction indicated in dotted lines and further showing the key ring of the invention engaged with the lower edge of the pocket aperture in a normally operative position;

Fig. 2 is another fragmentary elevational view indict-1e ing the key lifted upwardly into a position of trapped relationship with the pocket whereby accidental removal of the key ring is prevented;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Figs. 1 and 2 but further illustrating the key ring being rotated toward a releasing position with respect to the pocket edge; and

Fig. 4 is an elevational view of the key ring removed from the pocket member.

in the structure shown in the drawings the key ring has been shown associated with a conventional trouser pocket construction in which a trouser member 6 is provided with a waist band 3 from which extends down wardly a pocket-forming member it to which access is provided by means of a pocket aperture 12.

it should be observed that in forming pocket edges and securing the edges in stitched or sewed relationship with the fabric edges of the trouser material, it is the common practice among tailors to provide for the lower section of the pocket-forming member being somewhat wider than the upper section, and especially it is the practice to very strongly secure together those parts of the pocket-forming member and the trouser fabric which come together and constitute the lower edge of the pocket aperture The means employed to secure these parts together comprises a transversely extending bar or band of sewing which is frequently referred to in the tailoring art as a bar tack."

Attention is directed to Fig. 1 of the drawings, in which it will be observed that there has been illustrated diagrammatically a bar tack 14 which extends transversdy across the trouser leg seam to solidly secure the lower edge of 2,777,180 Patented Jan. 15, 1957 the pocket. It will be apparent that in thus securing the pocket-forming material the bar tack forms an inner shouldered pocket section 16, as well as an underlying recess which extends rearwardly well in back of the vertical line of opening of the pocket aperture.

In accordance with the invention we have devised a novel key ring structure which is particularly designed to take advantage of the bar tack, as well as the shouldered pocket section and its underlying recess, in order to. provide for suspending a key ring in normally trapped relationship within the pocket.

in one preferred form of our key ring we provide a unitary member composed of a springy material, such as a length of steel wire, a strip of plastic, or some other suitable substance. This unitary member comprises an elongated body portion 18 formed at its lower end with a ring 20 which may, for example, be resiliently maintained against the body portion 18 at one point, as shown in Fig. 4, to constitute an enclosure in which keys, as 22 (Fig. 1), may be held.

At its opposite or ripper end the body portion 18 supports a retaining member, such as a hook portion 24, which is of a shape so chosen that it curves upwardly over and away from the body portion 13, as viewed in Fig. 4, and then downwardly into a position where its extremity 24a lies in closely spaced relationship to the body portion 18, as may be better seen from an inspection of Fig. 4.

There is in this way produced a partially closed hook especially suited to engaging over the lower edge of the pocket and the bar tack 14 which secures this part, as has been illustrated by the position of the key ring, shown in Fig. l. The spacing between the extremity 24a and the body portion 18 preferably may be limited to a size chosen with reference to the width of a bar tack so that the key ring will not readily be disengaged from its trapped position unless it is rotated about its releasing position and so that a trapped association of the ring in a pocket can automatically be achieved as the ring and casing 22 are dropped down into the pocket.

forming the hook portion 24 we have further arranged the highest point therein, as viewed in Fig. 4, to lie along a vertical axis of symmetry which lies outside of the upper end 26 of the body portion 18. Thus, when the key ring is in a suspended position in the pocket and carrying keys, the body portion will necessarily assume an inclined position, such as that shown in Fig. 1.

We find that the body portion lit in an inclined position, such as has been described and shown in Fig. l, can be utilized to very desirably provide for a trapping action of the key ring with respect to the bar tack and its shouldered pocket section. in this connection we provide in the body portion at a somewhat convenient point between this member and the hook portion 2 a projecting part 26 which may, for example, be conveniently comprised by bending the body portion into the shape shown in Fig. 4. This projecting part is shaped so that it extends angularly upward and toward the top of. the hook portion 24- and is constructed of a size selected so that the upper extremity of the projecting part may extend well inwardly into a position directly below the bar tack 14- and the underlying pocket recess. We find that by selecting a proper size for this projecting part it will always eng in the underlying pocket recess directly below the bar ta when the ring is lifted, and thus the ring is constantly held in trapped relationship with the pocket, as is evident from the position of the key ring illustrated in Fig. 2.

However, if it is desired to remove the key ring with the supported keys, it is only necessary to rotate the key member in the manner suggested in Pig. 3. In such a position the projecting part 26 may be easily slid over the shouldered section of the pocket below the bar tack and completely freed from the pocket material.

Although we have illustrated and described the invention with particular reference to a trouser pocket, it should be understood that we may desire to use the key ring with various other garment pockets where a similar bar tack or shouldered pocket section are present. Likewise, we may desire to modify the construction of the projecting part which produces the trapping action in cooperation with the hook end of the key ring. The projecting part may, if desired, be a separate piece independently formed and secured to the body portion, for example, and various other means may be employed where desired.

While we have shown and described a preferred embodiment of our invention, it should be understood that changes and modifications may be resorted to in keeping with the spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claim.

Having thus described our invention, what we desire to claim as new is:

A safety key ring comprising an elongated body portion having its lower end bent to form a key supporting ring, the end of the ring forming portion being bent to engage resiliently with an intermediate portion of the body portion to prevent accidental escape of keys from the ring, the upper end of the body portion being bent down at an acute angle, then upwardly in an are greater than a semi-circle to form a supporting loop, the end being further bent down to extend over and terminate in a ring-like end adjacent the acute angular portion, the ring portion at the lower end of the body portion and the loop at the upper end of the body portion lying in the same plane to provide a relatively flat key ring.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 533,385 Tweedale Jan. 29, 1895 1,053,183 Keller Feb. 18, 1913 1,472,766 Fraser Oct. 30, 1923 

